Kara Snow

Kara Snow is a former commerce editor for The Drive. She has worked for newspapers and automotive publications for more than 25 years—from beat reporter to editor-in-chief. She's also a motorcycle mechanic and former motorcycle shop owner. She has been restoring cars and bikes for decades. Snow is known in the U.S. and abroad for her expertise with Italian two-wheeled, two-stroke machines such as Vespas and Lambrettas, she runs and helps organize vintage scooter rallies, and for several years Snow was a judge at motorcycle concours competitions in Carmel and Del Mar, California.

• Editor/writer with decades of experience
• Motorcycle mechanic
• Motorcycle concours judge
• Formerly with Car and Driver, Road & Track, Automobile, MotorTrend, Roadkill, The San Luis Obispo Tribune, La Jolla Light, Hawaii Tribune-Herald, among others

 

For more than 25 years, Kara Snow has been an editor/writer for newspaper, magazine, and online automotive publications. Formerly a copy editor for Car and Driver and Road & Track, Snow was now the commerce editor for autos for TheDrive.com between 2020 and 2022. Before that, she was the West Coast fleet manager and senior copy editor for Automobile magazine and copy editor for MotorTrend and Roadkill magazines and spent many years in newspapers in several roles, from beat reporter to editor in chief. She has received numerous rewards from various press clubs, and in 2001 her team at The Tribune was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for their environmental reporting.

Snow has extensive experience as a mechanic and was co-owner of the only exclusively vintage Vespa and Lambretta scooter shop on the West Coast, Bar Italia Classics in Los Angeles. She is well known in the U.S. and around the world for her expertise with Italian two-wheeled, two-stroke machines. She runs and helps organize vintage scooter rallies, and for several years Snow has been a judge at motorcycle concours competitions in Carmel and Del Mar, California. To top that off, in 2020 she graduated from an American Bar Association-accredited two-year paralegal program.

Snow went to Cuesta College followed by California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, for a bachelor’s of science in journalism. She also completed the paralegal program at Phoenix College. While attending Cal Poly, she was recognized by the U.S. Department of Health for a news story she wrote about the destructive effects of drinking and driving.

Kara Snow is an avid MotoGP fan, especially of the recently retired Valentino Rossi. When she’s not riding or driving or attending yet another Cars & Coffee, she enjoys traveling, especially to racing circuits.